Sydney
21 July 2002

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Vinnies SOS for cash to fight gambling ills

A man who embezzled $70,000 and twice tried to kill himself is among the many gambling addicts who are helped by GAME, the St Vincent de Paul Society’s rehabilitation and counselling service for problem gamblers.

Some voluntarily seek out the centre’s services.

Some, such as the man who tried to kill himself, are referred by hospitals.

Others are ordered to attend by courts as part of their sentence for crimes committed to support their gambling or as part of the pre-trial process.

At present, the service is helping more than 100 problem gamblers a month. And the number is steadily increasing.

GAME is facing a crisis.

The increasing call on its services has not been matched by increased funding to provide those services.

And the problem will soon get even worse.

Under new legislation, by October 2, every club, hotel and casino with poker machines will need to have entered into arrangements with an organisation like GAME to provide counselling services for members and patrons.

Each venue will have to have a sign directing gamblers towards a counselling service, which will, of course, place more demands on organisations like GAME.

“We suspect that at that point the problem will become horrendous,” says GAME’s general manager and director of therapy, Eva Fera.

She believes that gambling addiction is often a symptom of some other condition.

“A lot of gamblers have other problems,” she said. “It can be psychological. I have had problem gamblers who were also perpetrators of sexual abuse of children.

“It can be physical. People with serious arthritis have told me that when they gamble they don’t feel the pain. It is well known that gambling can have an analgesic effect.

“People with gambling problems often seem to go into a trance, into a hypnotic state. They blank out and have a glazed look.

“Some have told me: ‘When I am gambling I feel nothing’.”

GAME started its counselling services in 1998 with funds from the Casino Community Benefit Fund.

As well as Eva, who is a trained psychologist, the centre employs two other psychologists, Ruth Frances and Mark Milic, a financial counsellor, Dennis Borham, and an office assistant, Nelson Vaudagnotto.

Eva is critical of the makers of poker machines because, as a psychologist, she recognises how they are designed to attract people and to reinforce their gambling behaviour.

“The way they are programmed – with the colour and the noise – is all intended to entrap people,” she says. “Researchers have tried the same principles on animals, and the animals got addicted.

“The machines are also programmed to flash up signs such as ‘You’re too good for me’ or ‘You’re a legend’ when someone wins.

“A lot of these people have never been praised before, have never been told they are a legend. They may have done poorly at school, so they love the praise. Who doesn’t like being praised?”

Eva said this way of marketing poker machines was insidious, with the message that gambling is good being almost subliminal.

“Along with researchers at the University of NSW, GAME applied for funding from the Casino Community Benefit Fund to look at the hypnotic effect of poker machines on gamblers, but was knocked back. I don’t think they wanted us to find out how hypnotic they are.”

Once a gambler, or the gambler’s family, decides there is a problem and makes contact with GAME, “we find out when the problem started, what started it and what they expect to get out of the counselling”, says Eva.

“We then decide what kind of services the person needs.

“If it is financial counselling, we refer them to Dennis; if it is just the gambling problem then the others are available.

“We find out whether they want to give up gambling entirely or just want to control it.

“If they just want to control it, then we tell them they will have to give it up completely first. You can’t control it if you can’t stop.”

But GAME doesn’t try to stop people gambling totally.

“If the problem is with poker machines, and as well they occasionally take a Lotto ticket or put a bet on the Melbourne Cup, then the bits that are not a problem we don’t deal with,” Eva said.

Gamblers are not the only ones who seek assistance from GAME.

“Attendants from the high rollers’ room at the Sydney casino, where the big betting is done, have been referred to us because they have found what they see there so disturbing,” says Eva.

GAME, a Catholic body, does not push religion on to its clients (but it does encourage spirituality).

Nor does it restrict its services to Catholics. “We have all kinds of clients, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist, so we don’t talk about religion,” says Eva.

She recently counselled a Turkish family over the husband’s gambling problem.

“The family had never been on holiday, there was never money for presents for the children,” she says.

“I gave them a Christmas hamper last year. They said: ‘But we don’t celebrate Christmas; we are Muslims’, and I said: ‘No, but I do. I am a Christian; I am doing it as part of my religion’.

“The children were so happy when they opened their presents.

“For me it was a simple act of kindness, a gesture, but they are still talking about it.

“They said it made a difference in their lives.”

Eva hopes that the novelty of poker machines will wear off soon.

“People are not stupid. They will see what is happening, what they are doing,” she said.

GAME can be contacted on (02) 9331 3910. Counselling can be arranged within 24 hours for people with urgent gambling problems.